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Lords of Chains
The Lords of Chains are a Tzeentch-aligned Iron Warriors warband led by Warsmith Iram Maleros. The warband has gained a fearsome reputation both inside and outside the Eye of Terror for their brutality. History Into the Eye Iram Maleros was a Warsmith of the IV Legion at the end of the Horus Heresy who, unusually for the Iron Warriors, showed an uncanny talent for void warfare. His ability allowed him to maintain most of his Grand Company intact during the retreat from the Terra and the rest of the Great Scouring. After settling on Medrengard, Maleros started to build his own fortress. It was, however, less grand and imposing of those created by his fellow Warsmiths. Its purpose was, in fact, to provide a planetside base for the construction of a great orbital fortress, named the Black Gate. In Maleros' plans, this mighty creation would have granted him not only a vantage position over the other lords of Medrengard, but also a fundamental staging point for his “Grand Fleet”. Once the construction of the Black Gate was underway, Maleros set sail with his fleet leaving a garrison force on Medrengard. The warband participated in the later stages of the so called Slave Wars, absorbing in its ranks the remnants of the forces it defeated. When Ezekyle Abaddon launched the 1st Black Crusade, Maleros was one of the first warlords to answer his call. It was in that dark time that his warband took up the moniker of "Lords of Chains". Slavemongers Slaves, Maleros realised, were a fundamental resource to keep on waging the Long War. A resource he would gladly exploit to reach more power. Since M32, after reorganizing his forces, the "Grand Fleet" engaged in numerous raids on the Imperium, reaping a tally of destruction and prisoners before going back to the Eye of Terror to sell them for weapons and armour. In most cases those slaves were mere mortals, humans and xenos alike, but as the power of the warband grew, so its targets became more ambitious. In a few centuries the ships of the Lords of Chains started to attack also Astartes Warships, especially during major engagements when they could take advantage of the chaos to pounce on weakened preys. Slaves to Darkness In the second half of M34 Medrengard was embroiled in the so called "Dispute of Iron". During this terrible civil war the various warbands of the Iron Warriors fell one upon another, consolidating the power of some while annihilating the weakest. The Lords of Chains were among the victors of the fratricide. This outcome was due not only to the tactical advantage granted by the Black Gate, but also to their allegiance to Abaddon's Black Legion who committed a portion of his forces to the conflict. The involvement of the Warmaster's lot gained Maleros the mocking moniker of "the Black Warsmith" which he appreciated nonetheless. Amongst the warbands subdued by the Lords of Chains, the Branded Brethren were a particular case. The warband was led by a covenant of sorcerers who quickly pledged themselves to Maleros when his forces finally breached their stronghold. Once accepted in the warband, the Sorcerers started to turn more and more warriors to the cult of Tzeentch. Even Maleros, was ultimately swayed by the Changer of Ways' promise of power. For almost a millennium, it seemed that the true power behind the Lords of Chains lied in the hands of the warlocks' leader, Rhovan Hermetikor. Raid on Providencia In 738. M37 the Lords of Chains executed their most successful raid before the atrocities of Noctis Aeterna. Maleros, persuaded by Hermetikor, attacked the Imperial Shrine World Providencia. The great number of priests and Schola Progenium pupils would be a considerable wealth of slaves for the warband. But the sorcerer had another target in mind. The warband's fleet made short work of the defence forces in the system before delivering the conquering army on the unlucky planet. In a matter of weeks the Traitor Astartes overcome the planet's garrison and started plundering the cities of Providencia capturing hundreds, if not thousands of slaves. However, while the Holy Seat was invaded by the Iron Warriors, the Pontifex Maximus managed to send a last plea for help. Help came soon in the form of the Forge Templars' 5th company. Catching the plundering traitors by surprise, the sons of Vulkan made haste to the capital, to engage the main body of the invasion. The Forge Templar's prime target was the Holy Seat Cathedral, where the Lords of Chains' headquarters were established. Maleros quickly reorganized his forces to stall the Forge Templars until escaping to the Eye. While the battle for the Holy Seat raged on, Hermetikor led a squad of warriors into the crypts under the Cathedral. There he found his real objective. The Al-Azif, a dark grimoire from a time shrouded in legend. Using a ritual found in the book and sacrificing the souls of his men, Hermetikor commenced his ascension to Daemonhood. He did not considered the Astartes in his plans though, for a strike force of Forge Templars' veterans made his way to the crypt, led by Chaplain Maikalou. The loyalists weren't the only ones who tried to thwart Hermetikor's (who took the name of Trimegiston upon his ascension) design. Maleros himself, followed by a squad of his own Terminators, reached the ritual site. A three way fight ensued, with heavy losses both for the Templars and Maleros, but in the end Maikalou was able to slay the newborn Daemon Prince. Ultimate victory went however to Maleros, who managed to retrieve the Al-Azif before teleporting to his flagship and fleeing the system. To Tame A Devil Maleros was no psyker, but since choosing Tzeentch as his patron, he became interested in daemonology and his mathematically inclined intellect helped him greatly in understanding this dangerous art. After more than a century of studying and experimenting, Maleros was ready to enact his revenge on the rogue sorcerer. Using the rituals of the Al-Azif and sacrificing eighty-one slaves, he summoned back in the materium Trimegiston The Daemon Prince's cackles of triumph were short lived. Knowing the creature's mortal name, Maleros bound Trimegiston to his bidding. This deed finally re-established the Chaos Lord's uncontested leadership over the Lords of Chains. Chaos Reigns The Lords of Chains moment of greatest success was after the fall of Cadia. In the chaos of Noctis Aeterna, the Grand Fleet sacked a hundred of systems in the galactic south. The raids intensified further once the Cicatrix Maledictum opened. The amount of slaves spiralled up, but so did the conflicts with other chaos servants, especially the Death Guard. This time of plentiful was not to last, however, because the Indomitus Crusade managed to cut off the Grand Fleet from the routes to the Cicatrix and forced Maleros to find a system to entrench and resist the Imperial counterattack. Ultor The Ultor System, in Segmentum Pacificus, was ravaged by the horrors of the Noctis Aeterna. The Lords of Chains had thus no difficulty in settling there. The first order from Maleros was to restore the defenses of the polar fortress on Ultor III. Working all the slaves they captured to the death, the defences were fully operational in just a month. Then, Maleros sent a rallying call to all the chaos warfleets in the vicinity. The Chaos Lord plan was to exploit the situation to his advantage and carve a kingdom of his own. But in his haste and arrogance, even the cautious Warsmith made a fundamental mistake. The chaos fleets movements draw the attention of the resurgent imperial forces. A crusading force, under the command of Lord General Wirsung was swiftly assembled. Twenty regiments of Astra Militarum; including the renowned 61st Albion, the 81st Aragon and strike forces from Mordia and Krieg made haste for the Ultor system alongside a mighty force from Battlefleet Pacificus. The Chaos forces stood defiant in their defence and managed to halt the advance of the Ultor Crusade. This bitter standstill was broken when the Adeptus Astartes joined the fray. The Forge Templars 2nd company was the first to arrive in the system, followed shortly by the 1st company of the Wild Hunt Chapter, accompanied by three lances of House Immoren Knights. While the Astra Militarum pressed the attack on the other planets and the Imperial Navy chased the traitors' fleets, the Astartes struck the defences of Ultor III like a lightning bolt. Bypassing in a daring manouvre the orbital defences of the planet, the Astartes battleships disgorged their warriors in two close warzones in the equatorial region before joining the duel between Battlefleet Pacificus and the Grand Fleet. After weeks of bloody battles, the Forge Templars and the Wild Hunt finally besieged the Iron Warriors Fortress. During a last conjoined push, the walls of Maleros' keep were finally breached. Sweeping into the citadel, the Astartes found a force of battle-hardened veterans and daemons under the command of Maleros' lieutenant, Vaux Kharagul. The Warsmith, in the meantime rallied what few ships of the Grand fleet he could muster and teleported to safety on his flagship before smashing the imperial blockade and fleeing into the void. With a great part of his forces lost to the Imperium, Maleros' fleet limped back to medrengard to reorganize and plotting revenge upon those who laid the Lords of Chains low. The Grand Fleet Maleros' "Grand Fleet" varied in strenght and size over ten millennia of war. However, some ships have gained a terrible reputation throughout the Imperium: *''Iron Barbican: Maleros' flagship since the Great Crusade. After the Horus Heresy the battleship was so heavily modified to the point of being unrecognisable. Her cavernous holds store rows upon rows of attack craft and Kharybdis Assault Claws to rapidly deploy his warriors. Another feature are the many torpedo tubes dedicated to Boarding Torpedoes. *Howling Metal: of the many captured ships, the oldest is the ''Howling Metal. This ship is, in fact, none other that the Helicon Spear. Captured by the Iron Warriors during the Heresy and seized by Maleros during the Dispute of Iron. The Warsmith changed the ship's name as a cruel joke against the Space Wolves. Noteworthy, although not being a battleship, is the Lords of Chains' orbital fortress, the Black Gate. Acknowledgements The Author thanks Algrim Whitefang for the page editing and revision and to Achilles Prime for the outstanding artwork! Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Space Marines Category:Chaos Warbands Category:Iron Warriors Successors